President Vladimir Putin said at talks on Monday with embattled Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko that Russia had agreed a $1.5 billion loan with Minsk but the Belarusian people should resolve the crisis without foreign interference.

In a twist of irony, the Russian regime is now labeling its own loyalists as 'foreign agents,' hinting at a deeper turmoil within Putin's inner circle.

Bulgaria is drafting new legislation that will allow it to seize control of an important oil refinery belonging to Russia's sanctioned oil giant Lukoil.The Burgas refinery is the only one of its kind in Bulgaria and was a vital party of Lukoil's foreign business empire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday the world would have no future without a system of arms control, with the future of a nuclear weapons pact between Russia and the United States hanging in the balance.

Pianist and composer Justus Frantz has regularly divided opinion in Germany's classical music world over his close relationship with Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Now he's set disapproving tongues wagging again within the industry by accepting Moscow's Order of Friendship award.

In an interview with CBS news, Trump praised both Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin for being "smart, tough, serious" leaders.